This pop-up-turned-brick-and-mortar on Orcas reimagines the modern restaurant with a new ethos

Long before Matia became one of Orcas Island’s most thoughtful and quietly influential restaurants, it lived as an idea—two young industry workers with no money, a deep love for the San Juan Islands, and a belief that food should tell the truth about where it comes from.

Founded in 2016 by Drew Downing and Chef Avery Adams, Matia began nothing like the restaurant it is today. “While an eventual brick and mortar restaurant was always the goal,” Drew explained, the early years unfolded as Matia Dinner Series—a roaming collection of pop-up dinners, private catering, and consulting that took place anywhere the two could gather a few tables and cook. They were, in Drew’s words, “two kids with no money and a big dream,” relying on sheer drive and a commitment to the farmers, fishermen, and foragers who define the archipelago’s flavor.

Co-Owners Chef Avery Adams and Drew DowningPhoto byMatia Kitchen

By the time Matia opened as a restaurant in 2021, it already had a pulse: a community that believed in two people who believed in them right back.

And the name? That came from Avery, whose camping trip to Matia Island left such a mark they carried it into the next chapter of their lives. The island’s name has several translations—“protected place” and “gift of God”—both of which feel fitting for a restaurant built on refuge, gratitude, and grounding.

Photo byMatia Kitchen

From the beginning, Matia’s heartbeat has been its ingredients. Where many restaurants conceptualize dishes and then order what they need, Matia flips the process entirely. “Our menus are driven in reverse order,” Drew says. “The product that is available to us informs the final dish, and not vice versa.” Working almost exclusively with small, family-run organic farms and fisheries, Matia changes its three menus nearly daily. Nothing is static, and that’s the point—each plate is a love letter to the land and waters that surround them.

But Drew and Avery will tell you that sourcing is only half the mission.

Photo byMatia Kitchen

The other half is people. Not customers, though they care for those deeply. Rather, the people behind the scenes—the cooks, servers, dishwashers, and managers whose lives fuel an industry that has historically given them very little in return.

“The restaurant labor industry is fraught with exploitation, stress, high turnover, and general toxicity,” Drew says unequivocally. “Our restaurant workers deserve better.” For him, Matia isn’t just a restaurant; it’s a blueprint for a healthier future. Living wages, healthcare, schedule flexibility, supportive leadership—these are the pillars he and Avery never had growing up in the industry, and the pillars they are determined to build for others.

Photo byMatia Kitchen

And they see this as more than internal work. On Orcas Island—where tourism drives much of the economy—Matia is advocating for a more balanced, sustainable way forward. The island’s seasonality creates what Drew calls a “feast or famine lifestyle,” one that can destabilize businesses, workers, and families. “I would like to use Matia’s influence to flatten that curve,” he says. Giving workers stability means giving the island stability, and vice versa.

Their values extend into their community relationships as well. Having witnessed firsthand “the extractive policies put forward by other restaurants in our area such as the Willows,” Matia takes a different approach—supporting small farms, strengthening the tourist economy without exploiting it, and raising the tide so “all boats” can rise together.

Photo byMatia Kitchen

For Drew, all of this—food, labor, community, land—is personal. “Feeding people has always been my passion,” he says, “but my real life’s work is to create a business model by which future restaurateurs can heal the trauma of our industry.” He hopes his generation is the last to endure the scars many cooks and servers carry. “I believe with all my heart that the entire industry depends on it,” he adds. “And I have an obligation to our future.”

Today, Matia sits five years into its life as a brick-and-mortar restaurant, ever-evolving, always learning, and anchored by the belief that integrity on the plate means nothing without integrity behind the scenes.

A restaurant can be many things—a gathering place, a piece of local identity, a reflection of its land. On Orcas Island, Matia is all of these, and something more: a new model for what food can look like when it takes care of everyone who touches it.

Matia Kitchen & Lounge

📍 310 Main St, Eastsound, WA (Orcas Island)
📅 Founded: 2016 | Restaurant Opening: May 5, 2021
👥 Co-Proprietors: Drew Downing & Chef Avery Adams
🌱 Known For: Hyper-local, farm-driven menus that rotate daily; ingredient-first creativity; deep partnerships with San Juan farmers & fisheries
✨ Philosophy: “Protected place” / “Gift of God” — honoring land, labor, community, and the future of the restaurant industry
🥂 Experience: Three daily-changing menus, shaped entirely by what local farms bring in each morning